'Come on,' said James as he dragged her by the hand through the corridors.

'James, what are you doing?' asked Lily, half amused, half exasperated. 'We should get to lunch. If we hurry, we will have some quiet time in the common room before the rest of the Gryffindors get back. I still need to revise for charms tomorrow.'

'Sod charms and sod the rest of our house,' said James. 'If I have to spend one more hour revising, I will go mental! I have a far better idea how we can spend the lunch hour.'

'I am not sure what you have in mind, but I doubt that I am going to like it,' said Lily.

'We will see about that,' said James, smiling. They rounded another corner and James spied their final destination: An old and battered tapestry with a nice alcove behind it. 'Here we are, follow me behind this.'

Lily raised an eyebrow at his choice of destination, but followed him in without complaint. When the tapestry swung shut behind them, it left them shielded from view. The sunlight streaming into the corridor was reduced to shadowy twilight. James could still make out Lily's form in the dimness, but only barely.

'So, you have rushed here to get me somewhere isolated and quiet,' said Lily sounding amused. 'I think I can figure out where this is heading. What part of "I have to study" didn't you understand?'

'You are going to blow up with pressure if you keep studying at such an excessive rate,' said James dismissively. 'Come on Lily, it has been ages and it is driving us up the wall.'

He closed the distance between them and put his hands on her hips. She sighed, but didn't move away.

'It has been a while, indeed,' she said. 'Fine, but can we at least move this to your dorm? People could stumble into us here.'

'Bad idea,' said James. 'Remus said he planned to skip lunch and get a head start on potion work. He will be up in the dorm by now. Unless you don't mind shagging me with him in the room, we should stay away from there.'

'Funnily enough, I do mind,' said Lily, wrinkling her nose. 'I would prefer a bed, though.'

'Somehow I like the thought of pushing you against that wall,' said James. He leaned down and captured her lips in a searing kiss. She sighed again, but this time with pleasure and buried one of her hands in his thick hair.

'Have I ever told you that you are a terrible influence?' asked Lily between kisses. 'I can't believe how easily you have talked me into this.'

'You might have mentioned it once or twice,' said James. 'And it is not my fault that I am a natural charmer.'

He helped her out of her robes and slipped his hand under her shirt. Then, he slowly trailed his hand up her sensitive belly. When he had finally reached her breasts, he was pleased to find that she was not wearing a bra.

'Well, well, well,' he said as he circled her right nipple with his fingers. 'What a nice surprise. Were you expecting me to ambush you like this?'

'No,' hissed Lily between breaths. Her nipples were very sensitive, much to James's joy. 'But in retrospective I should have been able to predict this.'

'Why aren't you were a bra then?' asked James softly into her ear, before lowering his mouth to her neck and gently biting down.

'It is Marlene's fault,' said Lily. 'Damnit James, you bloody tease! Apparently, she read an article in Witch Weekly how wearing bras will make your breast sag faster and she was very keen to warn everybody about it.'

'That's very nice of her,' said James. He captured Lily's mouth back with his own and started unbuttoning her shirt. 'Looking out for each other is important, after all.'

'I will let her know that you approve,' said Lily. 'Not that she will notice given how wrapped up she is in her new and hot relationship with Sirius.'

'Ah, young love,' said James. He had finished opening her shirt by now and had a nice view on her firm breasts. The rosy nipples were hardened already and James figured he ought to pay more attention to them. He put one into his mouth and sucked on it while using his hand to tease the other. Lily made a strangled noise in her throat and grabbed his hair firmly. James had never figured out her exact reasons, but she loved to tug at it during sex. A rather astounding thing given how much she used to hate it back in the day.

'God, James,' she moaned. 'More, I need more.'

James briefly release her nipple from his mouth to talk properly.

'In that case, why don't I pull down your panties and finger you in addition?' he asked huskily. 'Would you like that? It would hardly be classy, but I think you don't care too much about that by now.'

'Yes, please,' she moaned. 'Or just skip the fingers and use your cock.'

'Patience,' chided James. 'I wonder: Have you skipped the knickers today as well? It would be very naughty to take an exam with nothing under you skirt wouldn't it be?'

'Why don't you put your hand to good use and find out?' said Lily breathlessly.

James chuckled at how pushy she was. He moved his right hand under skirt and slowly trailed it up her bare leg. She shivered slightly at his touch and James briefly considered teasing her further by taking his time, but discarded the thought. He did not want to be too annoying after all. He his hand between her legs and encountered wet cloth rather than silky skin.

'Hm, too bad,' he mused. 'Well, I guess it would have been too much to ask.

He deftly pushed the fabric away and slipped two fingers into her. Normally, he would start with one and work his way up from there, but she seemed so eager that he felt like he could be bolder. She was sopping wet and very tight around his fingers. It really had been too long since he had last fucked her. Lily arched into him and only barely managed to stifle her moan. He put his mouth back to work on her nipples and focused on keeping a proper rhythm. His thumb went searching for her clit and Lily started bucking into him when he found the sensitive nub. It only took a moment for her to orgasm from all this simulation. She stuffed a fist into her mouth to prevent her scream from echoing through the corridor. James kept pushing into her until her contractions had subsided and her breathing was getting even again. Then he pulled his fingers out of her and kissed her softly.

'Feeling better now?' he asked here, feeling very pleased with himself.

'I can't believe we just did that,' she said weakly.

'It was brilliant, wasn't it?'

'Yes, it was,' admitted Lily. 'But we aren't done yet. You must be terribly hard. Do you want to shag me or should I suck you off?'

'I am going to pound you into the wall,' said James. 'And I am not going to hold back.'

'Get going then,' said Lily. 'Off with the robes.'

James slipped out of his robes, unzipped his jeans and pulled his painfully hard cock out through the fly. Normally, he preferred to take his time while shagging, but today he need it rough and fast.

Lily used the downtime to properly remove her wet knickers and stuff them in the pockets of her discarded robes. As soon as he was ready, James jumped her. He crushed his mouth to hers and pushed her roughly against the wall behind her. She opened her legs for him and James felt his cock brush against her belly. He was way too tall to penetrate her from this angle.

'That's not going to work,' she breathed in between kisses.

'Not to worry,' said James. 'I am going to lift you up and you are going to wrap your legs around me.'

'I am not sure I am going to be able to hold myself in place.'

'You will be fine,' said James. 'I don't think it will be long.'

He took a small step back and put his hands on her bare bum. With a grunt, he lifted her slightly upwards so that his cock was at the proper angle to enter her. He gently pushed inwards and groaned at the wonderful feeling. Lily wrapped her legs around his waist as he had told her to do and supporting her weight became much easier. Using the wall as support, James started pounding into her in a hard and fast rhythm. Lily moaned at the rough treatment and urged him on, but James only barely registered the words. He was too focused on his own release. As he had predicted, it didn't take long him long to reach the point of no return. He came with a long groan, spilling his hot seed inside of her. His whole body relaxed at the sensation. Lily was close as well. She frantically tried to reach her second orgasm, but his rapidly softening cock didn't provide enough simulation. He told her to let go of him, pulled his cock out of her and lowered her back to the ground. Then, he kissed her again and put his fingers back to work. She only needed a little encouragement for her second orgasm.

They continued kissing lazily until they both had come down from their high. It hardly was romantic or even comfortable to shag in a dingy alcove behind a tapestry, but it was quite satisfying nevertheless.

'We really shouldn't have done that,' said Lily quietly as she pressed a kiss to his neck. 'We didn't even cast a silencing charm. Anyone walking by had been able to hear us.'

'True,' said James lazily. 'Just picture McGonagall's face if she had walked into us. I don't think she would have ever recovered from that shock.'

'I am very glad that I will never find out,' said Lily, sounding mortified at the thought. 'I don't want her to know how much you have corrupted me.'

'I prefer to think of it as improving you,' said James smugly. He kissed her forehead softly. 'And I think you are making great progress.'

'Prat,' she said lightly. 'And don't think you are getting out of helping me revise for charms. In contrast to you, I take my exams very serious.'

'Fine, as long as we can squeeze in a few breaks in which we can... relax,' said James. 'This one here was very effective, don't you think?'

'You really have a one-track mind, do you know that?'

'Not true, I also think a lot about Quidditch,' deadpanned James.

'Of course,' said Lily, amused. 'How could I ever forget that? Still, you should take a leave out of Sirius's book and spend more time studying. You want to get into auror training, don't you?'

'Just because he lost his mind, doesn't mind I have to do the same,' said James. 'My grades are fine and I don't need to spend every waking hour of the day to get an impressive collection of N.E.W.T.s. Neither does Sirius, but he is a crazy. Runs in the family, you know? Besides, the Ministry has just announced that they are going to lower the standards and improve payment during the first year of auror training. Apparently, people are not exactly excited about becoming aurors at the moment.'

'Not everybody is a brave as Sirius and you,' said Lily. 'I am not surprised, but it saddens me nevertheless. One would think that more people would be willing to defend their country against these maniacs.'

'Sadly, not everybody cares as much about equality as they should,' said James. 'But let's not talk about this now. That was the first time this week when I could unwind properly. Let's worry about the war when we are done with these bloody exams.'

'Right,' said Lily. 'Do you think we still have the time to grab some lunch? I am starving.'

James checked his watch.

'We have about five minutes of lunch left so probably not,' he said. 'Let's head down to the kitchens then. The house elves will be able to help us out.'

'Alright then,' said Lily. 'But are you sure the elves won't mind? I don't want to cause them additional work.'

'House elves are the happier the more work they have,' said James dismissively. 'Don't worry about them. Besides, they know me. I have lost count of how often I have snuck down to the kitchens with the rest of the Marauders. The elves were always happy to see us.'

'It is really weird,' said Lily pensively. 'The sole point of their existence seems to be to serve wizards. But that makes no sense: Why would a species evolve to serve another one? Do you know whether house elves were always like this? Or were they created for a specific purpose?'

'No idea,' said James. 'To be honest I have never thought about it. I suppose it is possible that the house elves once existed as an independent species and were changed over time to what we know today. Like wolves were changed over time and became dogs. But I have a really hard time picturing elves living on their own.'

'As soon as I have some free time, I will look this up,' said Lily. 'It is quite interesting, isn't it?'

'I suppose,' said James to humour her. However, while he had always liked house elves, he didn't consider them fascinating creatures. 'I think we should get going if you still want to do some charms work.'

Lily agreed and they exited the small space behind the tapestry after putting on their missing clothing and attempting to fix their mussed appearances. Lunch was over by now and students were streaming to their lessons or to their common rooms if they had a free period. No one payed Lily and James any attention until they had almost reached their destination. They encountered Evan Rosier in a corridor who most likely was on his way back to the Slytherin common room. Both Lily and James and the Slytherin froze in their tracks when the recognized each other. Rosier recovered first. A sneer took over his face.

'Now look at that,' he said quietly. 'The Mudblood and the blood-traitor. What a nice surprise.'

'Watch your mouth, Rosier,' said James. 'We are head-boy and head-girl and you are all alone for once. What's the matter? Did you antagonize the rest of your Death Eater friends?'

'I don't need anybody's protection, Potter,' said Rosier. 'You two on the other hand should be very careful. I have heard rumours that you want to become an auror, Potter. That is a very dangerous profession in these times.'

'Not as dangerous as being a Death Eater,' replied James coolly. 'I guess you must be braver than I thought.'

'You should be careful with accusations like that,' said Rosier. 'Especially, as you have not proof at all. Haven't you learned that by now? I have heard that the Ministry is about to stop the investigation against me any day now. How does that make you feel, Potter? It seems that you are the only person in the world convinced that I am a Death Eater.'

'Hardly,' said James. 'You are just lucky the Ministry is playing by the rules. I bet if I were to stun you and took a look at your forearm, I would find that blasted skull there. What I can't understand, though, is why you have joined these bastards in the first place. I can't be only about blood purity.'

'Why not?' asked Rosier. 'You and I both know that the pure-bloods are in decline. Fewer and fewer of us exist every generation and it is about time that something is done to reverse the trend. Diluting your noble blood certainly is not helping even though you seem to enjoy doing it.'

'So what? You want pure-bloods to stick to having children with other pure-bloods?' asks Lily heatedly. 'There aren't even enough of you around to keep this up! You would end up having to marry your relatives!'

'True enough,' said Rosier. 'Though it hardly seems appropriate of you to lecture me on pure-blood affairs. I have no interest in talking to you, Evans. I am only being civil out of respect for your boyfriend's family name.'

'How gracious,' said James. 'She has a point though. Killing each other is not going to change the fact that pure-bloods cannot sustain themselves anymore. I don't see how the Death Eaters are going to fix that.'

'We will see,' said Rosier. 'Things will look very different once we have retaken the Muggle world. Also, you should know, Potter, that there are a lot of different reasons for joining the Death Eaters. Pure hatred for Muggle and Mudbloods is what drives some of his followers. Others are more sensible and recognize a tectonic shift in the political landscape when they see it. Like it or not: The Death Eaters are going to win this fight. And when this all of this is over and the wizards have taking back their place in the world, then all of his followers will be richly rewarded. You really should have taken the offer the Dark Lord gave you. Now, all you will be able to earn in this fight is death. What a bloody waste.'

'Come off it, Rosier,' said James. 'You have never liked me and I strongly doubt that you would regret seeing me dead.'

'Probably not, but I wouldn't enjoy it either,' said Rosier. 'You may be an unredeemable blood traitor, but at least you are a talented and smart pure-blood. If you only had realized the truth, you could have been a great asset to our cause. But that owl has flown, hasn't it? And having clarity in the matter is nice as well.'

'If you had truly believed that James would even consider joining your group of murders, you don't know him at all,' said Lily hotly. 'He is too good a person for that! And in contrast to you, Rosier, he is not willing to kill people for personal gain. You are even worse than the die-hard purists out there! You are only an opportunist, sensing a chance to make something out of himself! They at least believe in their manic delusions!'

'Oh, trust me Evans, I have never believed that Potter could become one of us,' said Rosier, smiling coldly. 'Everybody with half a brain can tell that he is too far gone. The fact that you have finally spread your legs for him, has been the final nail in the coffin for that idea. But other people thought that there was chance that he would see reason, so I had to play messenger for a while. Not that I minded too much. Seventh year was so boring that it was a nice change in the routine. And speaking of opportunism: You should be glad for every opportunist in the Death Eaters. An opportunist is only going to kill you if he has to, a fanatical purist is going to do it for fun and will probably torture you to death. Who would you rather meet on the battlefield?'

'None, thank you very much,' said Lily coldly. 'You are not going to get away with this Rosier! Your master will get defeated and you will rot the rest of your life in Azkaban. Just you wait!'

'You know, Potter, I have never seen the appeal of head-strong woman, but Evans here is quite entertaining,' said Rosier. 'Well, it has been fun, chatting with you, but I guess I will let your two lovebirds carry on then. Enjoy the last weeks of school. I have a feeling that life after school is not going to be fun for you.'

'While you of course will have the time of your life running around and killing Muggles with your Death Eater mates,' said Lily scathingly. 'You are scum, Roiser!'

Rosier just smiled enigmatically at her and started walking away from them. James battled the urge to whip out his wand and curse the retreating figure. He knew he shouldn't. While Rosier was a terrible person, it was not fair to hex someone from behind and it probably would be over the top.

'Just leave him,' said Lily weakly. 'He isn't worth getting in trouble for.'

James was a bit surprised that she had been able to guess what he was thinking about that precisely. She must know him better by now than he had realized. He relaxed slightly and turned his face to her.

'Are you alright?' he asked her. She looked a bit shaken.

'Fine,' she said tensely. 'I am not going to let that git get to me. Let's go and grab something to eat.'

James knew well enough not to push the issue. Instead, the continued their way to the kitchen in silence.

After a rather hurried and quiet late lunch, they returned to their common room. They found the rest of Marauders and Marlene huddled together over their Charm work. The newcomers squeezed into a spot in the circle and sat down.

'What took you two so long?' asked Marlene. 'The exam finished ages ago and we didn't see you at lunch.'

'Oh, we went for a walk and had a late lunch in the kitchen,' said Lily casually. She blushed a little and James had to struggle to keep his face neutral. It would not do to give away their secret by appearing too pleased with himself.

'Were you now?' said Sirius critically. 'I am surprised by that, Evans. I had expected you to be the first one back in the common room, eager to study for Charms. It seems that James's bad habits are rubbing off on you.'

'My bad habits?' scoffed James. 'Only because you have suddenly turned into a model student, doesn't mean that I have to follow your path. You should be glad I am as accepting of your newly studious nature as I am. If our roles were reversed, you would never give me a moment of rest.'

'I am not a model student,' said Sirius, looking affronted at the very idea. Peter snorted at that.

'Oh, please,' he said. 'You have been absolutely mental since you decided to become an auror. Even Remus and Lily are not as dedicated as you are. And just yesterday you told some third years off for being too loud in the common room! Sirius Black telling people of for being too loud! That is utterly absurd.'

'Not my fault these gits can't control themselves,' grumbled Sirius while the rest of them burst into laughter. 'And you have already mentioned the key difference, Peter: I do this because I want to become an auror! I don't care about what the teachers think of me or whether I follow all the rules in this school. I just do it because I want to reach a goal. That makes me totally different from all the poncy teacher-pets.'

'Of course it does, dear,' said Marlene, patting his arm consolingly while smiling widely. 'You are the rebel with the perfect homework and the ten hour study sessions. They will never have your kind of attitude.'

Sirius scowled at her.

'You are supposed to back me up here!' he pouted. 'Isn't that what girlfriends are supposed to do?'

'Only if their boyfriends are actually in the right,' said Marlene.

'I am starting to dislike our new arrangement already,' said Sirius.

'Hush now,' said Marlene. 'I wouldn't have backed you up if we were still just casually dating either.'

'Anyway,' said Sirius. 'We were talking about Evans's newly picked up bad habits. I have to say I would have expected a better example of our head-students in these most stressful times. You two should have been here with us, studying rather than gallivanting over the grounds.'

'Like we don't do enough of that already,' said James, rolling his eyes. 'Besides, it is a nice change to get away from everybody once in a while. I never would have believed that people would be that excited about me and Lily dating. I mean it has been more than a month and still people comment on it. And I never would have expected things to become even worse with the Slytherins than before. I guess I was wrong.'

'How could you not have seen that coming?' asked Remus. 'You were already considered one of the worst blood traitors by the purists before you decided to date Lily. She is everything purists hate and in their minds she has no right to date someone with your noble blood. I am surprised that they only have stuck to nasty words so far.'

'They haven't,' said Lily quietly. 'Mulciber tried to hit me with something nasty yesterday in the corridors. I managed to dodge it and was just about to curse him back, when he disappeared in the crowd.'

'What?' said James sharply. 'Why didn't you tell me? I would have cursed that git into next week!'

'Which is precisely why she didn't tell you, James,' said Marlene patiently. 'Did you at least report him?'

'No,' said Lily. 'After all nothing happened and I have better things to do than talking Slughorn into punishing a student. Not when we are that close to our exams and to leaving school for good.'

'You should have reported him,' said James firmly. 'He shouldn't get away with that. I have had it with scum like Rosier and him.'

'Rosier?' asked Remus. 'What about him? He has kept his distance in the past few weeks, hasn't he?'

'We ran into him on our way back,' said James. 'He was very smug. Apparently, the Ministry of Magic isn't going to do anything about him and his friends abducting me. And somehow he knows that I have applied to the auror office. He was very sure that I am going to find an early death on the job.'

'Stupid git,' growled Sirius. 'Bloody Ministry. It is no wonder they get nothing done with all the Death Eater sympathizers running around. We really need to purge the place when all this is over. I bet you anything that Voldemort would have been caught already if the Ministry had only acted sooner.'

'Rosier also told James that he should have taken Voldemort's offer back during the kidnapping,' said Lily.

Peter and Marlene winced at her words.

'What?' asked Lily.

'You probably shouldn't say his name,' said Marlene. 'I have read twice already that it is cursed. The Death Eaters will know when you say their master's name and they will come looking for you.'

'Utter rubbish,' said Sirius. 'That is just a stupid rumour some nutcase started and it is spreading like wildfire. Besides, what are we going to call him when he can't use his name?'

'One columnist in the prophet calls him "You-Know-Who"', said Peter. 'He seems to believe in the curse.'

'Well, he is an idiot then,' said Sirius patiently.

'But what if he is right?' asked Marlene. 'I agree with you, Sirius, that it is most likely nothing but a scary story running wild. But what it is true? There is little harm in avoiding his name after all. Let's just be careful.'

'That's ridiculous, Marlene,' said Lily calmly. 'Nothing is going to happen because use Voldemort's name.'

'Maybe, but I would feel a lot better if you didn't,' said Marlene. 'Please! Do it for me.'

'Oh for heaven's sake,' said Lily. 'Fine, then. As I have said, Rosier told James that he should have taken You-Know-Who's offer.'

'Doesn't surprise me that this cowardly git gives that particular piece of advice,' spat Sirius. 'Rosier is a particularly slimy Slytherin. He is always going to support the winning side. I bet you anything that he would be the first to defect if the Ministry gains the upper hand. Well, at least he is smart, I guess. Not as brainwashed as my stupid brother seems to be.'

'Did you speak to Regulus recently?' asked James. Sirius and his brother had not been on speaking terms for quite a while now. Ever since Sirius had been disinherited by his family, Regulus had avoided his older brother like the plague.

'Bumped into him last week,' said Sirius. 'He told me that I was a bloody fool for joining the aurors rather than become part of what he calls the proper side. I guess you can picture how the rest of the conversation went.'

'Vividly,' said Remus dryly. 'Well, as long as you only stuck to insulting each other, I think we can call this a success.'

'Oh, I wanted to curse some sense into his thick head alright,' said Sirius. 'But I didn't want to get thrown into detention that close to the exams just because he is an idiot. He really should know better. I am just glad that he will be stuck in school for another year. He is stupid enough to actually join the Death Eaters. Maybe this will all have blown over by then.'

'Maybe,' agreed James. 'But Rosier doesn't seem to think so. He is quite sure that the Death Eaters are going to win and according to him, I have already signed my death sentence multiple times. Well, I guess they can only kill my once, so there is no harm in making it count.'

'You really shouldn't joke about that,' said Marlene, looking aghast. 'Especially as you are about to join the most dangerous profession in Britain!'

'She is right,' said Remus. 'You should be very careful, James. The Death Eaters will be looking for you. You have offended their master personally, they are bound to go hard on you. The fact that you are dating a Muggle-born is not going to help as well.'

'Did you hear that Lily? It seems that dating you is especially dangerous,' said James. 'But it certainly seems to be worth it.'

Lily hit him gently on the shoulder, but let him kiss her nevertheless.

'I still can't believe that you two are really dating,' said Marlene, shaking her head. 'You were at odds at each other for so long, I was so sure that this day would never come.'

'She was at odds with me, I was quite open to idea of dating her,' corrected James with a smile on his face. 'It is not my fault that she is that stubborn.'

'I am not stubborn,' protested Lily. 'You were just a git for the majority of our school years.'

'Come off it, Evans, you are the most stubborn person I know,' said Sirius. 'I am with James: You could have realized that you two were meant to be at any time during the last two years.'

'Sirius, you shouldn't call anyone stubborn,' said Peter. 'That really is the pot calling the kettle black. And if I remember correctly, you were quite sure that James was never going to get Lily to go out with him. You even placed a bet on it early in fifth year.'

'Yes, a bet which I won,' said Sirius smugly. 'She never dated him in fifth year and I would have won the same bet in sixth year as well. Just because I am a realist doesn't mean that I don't support James.'

'Well, it is a good thing that you hadn't bet on it this year then,' said James. 'I only wished that everybody wouldn't make such a big deal out of this. Half of the girls are giggling madly if they see Lily and me holding hands, while the other half glares daggers at her. It is a bloody menace.'

'It will fade away with time, but for now you are something out of a romance novel,' said Marlene. 'Former foes overcoming their hatred and finding love is a classic theme in them after all. I wouldn't worry about it too much for the moment. You will be done with school soon after all.'

'Yes, but we still have to pass out exams first and wrap up all the loose ends before the year ends,' said Lily, giving James a pointed look. He realized instantly what she was referring too: He had deferred telling her the secret of his whereabouts during the full moons until the end of the school year. It seems that time was up.

'Oh, I am quite sure we will manage to do that,' he said to her, before changing the topic. The conversation went on, but James was not paying any attention anymore. His mind was racing, but only came up with the same solution over and over again: He had to use the Unbreakable Vow.